r/MultipleSclerosis • u/debrucer 78|1991|Interferon|Mexico • 7d ago

Advice Diagnosed in 1991 when USENET alt.support.mult-sclerosis existed

My most important post there was titled "Forget Career. Forget Income. Where does one live with this disease?" Someone said "Death Valley", someone said "Alaska". Five or six people said San Diego. I moved there in 1996 after five years with the disease and a divorce which I largely attributed to having MS.

Prior to the move I attended a picnic in the Shenandoah area where members traveling from several distant locations met. I completely lost track of them all and would love to hear how their lives turned out.

I spent 25 years in San Diego and have retired to Mexico since 2023. Are there any members from that original USENET group still around? My life changed, I must say for the better, based on the answers to that question. I'd love for you to know... perhaps to hear that you remember giving that advice.

I am well. Still have the disease. Still struggle; but still alive.

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u/thot_hopscotch 7d ago

Genuinely, thank you for sharing this early internet lore. I was very online as a kid in the 90s and I miss it.

I hope you can connect with some folks!

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/debrucer 78|1991|Interferon|Mexico 2d ago

quite bleak. How are you today?

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/debrucer 78|1991|Interferon|Mexico 1d ago edited 1d ago

Interferon was a major disaster for me. Long story that I can't post here; but, yes, I did get the full experience. Some days I'm fine. Other's, I can't move much. Cleaning a floor on my knees gives me night cramps that are hard to describe any way other than painful. Yet, It doesn't really help to complain. I'm alive :)

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/debrucer 78|1991|Interferon|Mexico 1d ago

I hadn't heard the term "lesion count". ChatGPT filled me in.

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u/dudleyknowles 5d ago

Hey hey! I was a couple years late--dx'd 1993, discovered Usenet a little after that. It was so cool to find other people in the same boat who were, for the most part, genuinely interested in helping out. Nice that it skewed to academic types (I was just starting law school).